TrapCast Express
TrapCast Express, it's Monday, February 8th, 2021.
If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit.
Our blessed Lord said in St. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 15, verse 14.
A recent example of this can be seen in a lengthy new missive from the former Vatican nuncio to the United States,
the so-called Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò.
In his letter dated January 31st, published at The Remnant,
Fr. Viganò once again demonstrates that despite whatever his intentions may be,
he does not believe in the Catholic teaching on the papacy.
And how could he?
Considering that he believes that Jorge Bergoglio, Francis, is pope.
Interestingly enough, in contradiction to many other recognizant resistors,
Viganò says that, quote,
we can nevertheless recognize a pope as a heretic,
and as such refuse on a case-by-case basis to show him the obedience to which he would otherwise be entitled, unquote.
Now, isn't that interesting?
What happened to canonical warnings or a church judgment
that other semi-triad apologists tell us are necessary to know that Francis is a heretic?
Since a heretic, by definition, is not a member of the church,
he cannot be the head of the church either.
And so it follows that if you can recognize Francis to be a heretic,
then you can also recognize that he is not the pope.
Because those are really two sides of the same coin.
If you can know the one, you can know the other.
It's really not a difficult concept.
A little further on in his letter,
Fr. Viganò writes about Francis, quote,
The fact that as pope he teaches heterodox doctrines
or gives scandal to the simple with provocative affirmations
makes his fault one of extreme gravity
because whoever listens to him,
believes that he is listening to the voice of the good shepherd, unquote.
Save this one for posterity, folks.
Viganò admits, and by publishing it without a disclaimer,
the editors at The Remnant are presumed to agree with it,
Viganò admits that Francis teaches heresy in his capacity as the putative pope,
not simply as a private individual,
but as part of his magisterium,
and he says that this is very grave
because people will submit to his magisterium
and in this manner be misled.
Yet that is precisely what traditional Catholic doctrine on the papacy says is impossible,
that the faithful should be misled
by following the teaching of the Roman pontiff.
It is impossible.
Here, listen to the words of Pope Pius XI in his 1930s,
the encyclical Casti Connubii.
Quote,
Let the faithful also be on their guard
against the overrated independence of private judgment
and that false autonomy of human reason.
For it is quite foreign to everyone
bearing the name of a Christian
to trust his own mental powers
with such pride
as to agree only with those things
which he can examine from their inner nature
and to imagine that the church sent by God
to teach and guide all nations
is not conversant with present affairs and circumstances,
or even that they must obey only in those matters
which he has decreed by solemn definition,
as though her other decisions might be presumed to be false
or putting forward insufficient motive for truth and honesty.
Quite to the contrary,
a characteristic of all true followers of Christ,
lettered or unlettered,
is to suffer the truth,
to be guided and led in all things
that touch upon faith or morals
by the Holy Church of God
through its supreme pastor,
the Roman pontiff,
who is himself guided by Jesus Christ,
our Lord.
Unquote.
That's Pius XI,
Casti Connubii,
paragraph number 104.
In 1950,
Pope Pius XII said the following
about the papal magisterium.
Quote,
This sacred office of teacher
in matters of faith and morals
must be the proximate and universal criterion of truth
for all theologians,
since to it has been entrusted by Christ our Lord
the whole deposit of faith,
sacred scripture,
and divine tradition
to be preserved, guarded, and interpreted.
Nor must it be thought
that what is expounded in encyclical letters
does not of itself
demand consent,
since in writing such letters
the popes do not exercise
the supreme power of their teaching authority.
For these matters are taught
with the ordinary teaching authority
of which it is true to say
he who heareth you
heareth me.
It's Luke 10.16.
And generally what is expounded
and inculcated in encyclical letters
already for other reasons
appertains to Catholic doctrine.
Unquote.
That's Pius XII,
Encyclical Humanae Generis,
Numbers 18 and 20.
Now there are many other quotes like that
and you can find them all,
we've got them collected
at novosordowatch.org
novosordowatch.org
From the menu simply click on Catholicism
then click on the papacy
and that will give you many more quotes like that.
And this is a quote from a book
This papal teaching that we've just gone over
doesn't mean that everything the pope teaches
is always infallible
but it does mean that all of it
is always authoritative
and safe for a Catholic to embrace.
In other words, you will never put your soul in danger
by following the teaching of a true Roman pontiff.
Now, Viganò continues.
He says,
Unquote.
Now, here it gets really wild.
He's asserting that
the virtue of obedience
allows him to suspend judgment
on who is or isn't pope.
I find that very curious.
What he's trying to do,
at least for all practical purposes,
is remove the papacy from the faith.
This is a smoother sounding version of the
it doesn't matter if Francis is the pope error,
which the remnant peddled in late October of 2014.
Anyone who says that it doesn't matter
anyone who says that it doesn't matter
if Francis is the pope or not
has obviously not understood the papacy.
The only people who can say such a thing
are people who don't submit to the pope anyway.
And that is exactly what I've been saying for years
that the recognize and resist traditionalists
have reduced the papacy
to a completely meaningless concept
where you submit when the pope is right
and refuse submission.
When he's wrong.
Just like your local grocery store clerk, right?
You agree with her if she's right
and you disagree if she's wrong.
In other words,
there's no essential difference
between the pope
and your local grocery store clerk.
Now, let me continue with Viganò.
It gets worse still.
The former Vatican nuncio decries,
the absurdity of having to,
to disobey a person who is
simultaneously pope and heresiarch,
Athanasius and Arius,
one who is de jure light
but de facto darkness.
Unquote.
So, here he's twisting himself into a pretzel.
Why?
Because he doesn't want to be a Sedevacantist.
He doesn't want to conclude
that Francis is not the pope,
because he cannot be the pope.
So, instead, he utters such
a completely moronic and heretical,
even blasphemous thing,
that a man can be at one and the same time
pope and heretic,
Saint Francis de Sales and Martin Luther,
light and darkness.
He might as well have said
shepherd and wolf,
pope and antipope,
vicar of Christ and vicar of Antichrist.
This is,
is madness.
Now, if Vigano were some
obscure individual mumbling
such inanities to himself,
it would be bad enough.
But this man is now being celebrated
as the great voice of orthodoxy
against the darkness of our times,
the great faithful antidote
to Francis.
Now, let's turn to St. Paul for a minute.
In 2 Corinthians,
chapter 6, verses 14 and 15,
the apostle asks,
quote,
unquote.
This applies here, too,
just as Christ cannot also be the devil,
and just as the Catholic Church
cannot be both the immaculate bride
of Christ,
and also the whore of Babylon,
neither can the vicar of Christ
also be the vicar of Antichrist.
He cannot be the guarantee of orthodoxy,
the rule of faith,
and at the same time,
a heretic who poisons souls
through his magisterium.
I mean, duh, right?
If that were possible,
the papacy would not only be useless,
but outright dangerous.
Then the faithful would constantly
have to be on guard against being misled
by false teachings coming from the Holy See,
from the Pope.
But that is not how God instituted his church.
Have a listen to these beautiful words
of Pope St. Leo IX,
taken from his apostolic letter
in Terra Pax,
dated September 2nd, 1053.
Quote,
The Holy Church built upon a rock
that is Christ,
and upon Peter, or Cephas,
the son of John,
who first was called Simon,
because by the gates of hell,
that is, by the disputations of heretics,
which lead the vain to destruction,
it would never be overcome.
Thus truth itself promises,
through whom are true whatsoever things are true,
the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Matthew 16, 18.
The same son declares
that he obtained the effect of this promise
from the Father by prayers,
by saying to Peter,
Simon, Simon, behold,
Satan hath desired to have you,
that he may sift you as wheat.
But I have prayed for thee
that thy faith fail not,
and thou being once converted,
confirm thy brethren.
It's Luke 22, 31 and 32.
Therefore,
will there be,
anyone so foolish
as to dare to regard his prayer
as in any way vain,
whose being willing is being able?
By the see of the chief of the apostles,
namely by the Roman church,
through the same Peter,
as well as through his successors,
have not the comments of all the heretics
been disapproved, rejected, and overcome,
and the hearts of the brethren
in the faith of Peter,
which soweth,
so far neither has failed
nor up to the end will fail,
been strengthened?
Unquote.
Again, that was Pope St. Leo IX,
Apostolic Letter in Terra Pax.
You can read this in Denzinger 3.51.
So, all the semi-trads
who think they're just going by
what the church has always taught,
well, what you just heard
is what the church is,
church has always taught. The papacy is the very antidote to the garbage that emanates from
Francis. It is impossible for him to be the pope, and that has nothing to do with presuming to make
an authoritative legal declaration or legal judgment. It is simply a necessary consequence
from what we know to be the true Catholic teaching. But Viganò makes it even worse.
In his January 31st letter, he also says this, quote,
The paradox is that in order to remain in communion with the apostolic see,
we must separate ourselves from the one who should represent it and see ourselves bureaucratically
excommunicated by one who is not.
Who is in an objective state of schism with himself. Unquote.
Seriously? Can it get any more ridiculous? Can it get any more absurd to be in communion
with the holy see you have to separate yourself from the pope?
Look, this is basically just Gallicanism. Every schismatic, every heretic can make that argument,
right?
That although they're not in union with the pope, they are nevertheless in union with the real holy
see and what the pope should be teaching or doing. Well, the whole point of having a visible head of
the church who teaches and governs is that he is the criterion of church unity. If Francis is the
pope, then to separate yourself from him is to separate yourself from the church. That,
is what being the pope means. But that's what being the pope implies. Being the head of the church,
being the vicar of Christ. That's what that is, okay? You can't have it both ways. You can't have
a pope without the papacy. Look at what Pope Heinz IX said in 1873 in his apostolic letter
Per Tristissima.
But you, dearly beloved sons, remember that in all that concerns the faith, morals, and government of
the church, the words which Christ said of himself, he that gathereth not with me scattereth,
can be applied to the Roman pontiff who holds the place of God on earth. Ground your whole
wisdom, therefore, in an absolute obedience and a joyous and constant adherence to this
chair of Peter, unquote. And in 1849, the same Pius IX had taught this, quote,
Indeed, one simple way to keep men professing Catholic truth is to maintain their communion
with and obedience to the Roman pontiff, unquote. That's from the encyclical Gnostis et Nobiscum,
paragraph 17.
And in 1876, the same Pius IX wrote in his encyclical Que in Patriarchatio, quote,
What good is it to proclaim aloud the dogma of the supremacy of St. Peter and his successors?
What good is it to repeat over and over declarations of faith in the Catholic Church
and of obedience to the apostolic see when actions give the lie to these people?
These fine words, unquote.
So, the traditional teaching, you know, what the Church has always taught, is very clear
on this. People need to understand that you can't save tradition by denying tradition.
And this idea that Vigano is putting forward that you can be excommunicated bureaucratically
and then it doesn't really mean anything.
That was also condemned by Pope Clement XI.
You can find that in Denzinger, number 1441.
The exact error Pope Clement condemned is this, quote,
The fear of an unjust excommunication should never hinder us from fulfilling our duty.
Never are we separated from the Church even when, by the wickedness of men,
we seem to be expelled.
from it as long as we are attached to God, to Jesus Christ, and to the Church herself
by charity, unquote.
And that, again, is an error condemned by Pope Clement XI in the Apostolic Constitution
Unigenitus against the Jansenist Quesnel in the year 1713.
And lastly, Vigano's idea,
that Francis is in schism with himself.
It's just another novel and harebrained semi-trad concept
made up, made up, to justify not being a Sedevacantist.
Just like we've been saying on Novos Ordo Watch,
these people will affirm anything but Sedevacantism.
And yet, in a recent video,
the editor of The Remnant, Michael Matt,
said that Archbishop Vigano is proof that God has not abandoned his Church.
Listen to this clip real quick.
And so I went to Munich, where out of the blue,
I received an invitation to go to a local hotel
and visit a man who I'd never met and who I didn't know at the time
was about to emerge in 2020, the year from hell.
He was about to emerge as a living, breathing,
living proof that God has not abandoned us.
Never saw that coming, that meeting before I left the country that day, that weekend.
I'm not going to go into the details of my first meeting with Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano.
This audio clip is found in the video Biden, Davos, and the Great Christian Reset,
published on the Remnant's YouTube channel on January 29th, 2021.
While the Catholic truth, on the other hand,
is quite different, God does not abandon his Church
by safeguarding the office of the papacy from error,
from heresy, from leading the Church astray.
But of course you can't believe that if instead you believe that Francis is Pope.
One final thought.
For all those who accept Francis as Pope,
but are following Vigano as the great antidote
to Francis, and think that by doing this they're somehow saving the Church or saving the faith,
let me ask you this.
If the Pope can mislead the faithful in his official magisterium,
why in the world do you think that a retired Vatican nuncio like Vigano
couldn't do the same in his own private letters?
Remember,
if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit.
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